Monday, September 19, 2016

Twitter in retweet | The Economist

Excerpt from a stark Twitter reality check

"But Twitter’s share price has fallen by half since Mr Dorsey returned, to around $18. And the reasons to be pessimistic are multiplying. The first problem is Mr Dorsey himself. Considering the firm’s challenges, it needs a full-time boss if it is to have any hope of rebounding. Yet Mr Dorsey continues to split his time between Twitter and Square, another public company he co-founded which manages financial payments (and which has also struggled of late). Far more of his net worth is tied to Square’s performance than to Twitter’s. Having a boss who shows up part-time affects morale at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, say people there. Because he is often working at Square, many managers arrive late, depart early and generally show up just to “punch the time card”, says one former senior executive who has sold all of his shares."